holding that the trial court's improper denial of defendant's challenge for cause under Art. 35.16(c)(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure was subject to a harmless error analysis under Rule 44.2(b) of the Rules of Appellate Procedure.
How later courts described this case
- holding that the trial court's improper denial of defendant's challenge for cause under Art. 35.16(c)(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure was subject to a harmless error analysis under Rule 44.2(b) of the Rules of Appellate Procedure.
- holding trial court abused its discretion in denying challenge for cause to two prospective jurors who “stated unequivocally” they could not consider assessing the applicable minimum legal punishment
- holding that the tidal court erred by erroneously denying the appellant’s two challenges for cause
- holding that the trial court erred by erroneously denying the appellant's two challenges for cause
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
WOMACK, Judge,
dissenting.
I think the proper analysis is the one Judge Keller calls the second formulation of the “holistic approach,” ante at 408 (slip op. at 2). All a juror need be able to do is to be open to assessing a minimum punishment for some form of aggravated robbery, and a maximum punishment for some form of aggravated robbery. This I believe to be consistent with the wide ranges of punishment attached to offenses in the Penal Code, and to the legislative directive that the Code be *415 construed “to prescribe penalties that are proportionate to the seriousness of offenses and that permit recognition of differences in rehabilitation possibilities among individual offenders.” Penal Code § 1.02(3). I would affirm the judgment below.